Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Wish list

I forgot, now that Halloween has passed it's time to start thinking about... Christmas, right? Oh wait, there's another little holiday in between with lots of food and stuff. Anyway, for the past few years I've been saying "I don't need anything for Christmas or my birthday" (birthday is Dec. 28th. But now I've got this new interest with never ending opportunities for stuff. Here are some things I was thinking I'd put on my list, knowing I'll get one or two most likely.

-HR monitor. What kind? Are the ones with bells and whistles worth it, will I grow into graphing features and such? Or do I start with a cheaper model and plan to upgrade in a few years?

-Swim stuff- fins and paddles, what's more useful? Are the hard plastic paddles better than the swim gloves? What's the difference?

- New bike shoes. Mine are a bit on the small side, any recommendations? I wear a women's size 11, I think that's a 43 European size, not small feet.

A new bike is a few years down the road if I stick with the sport. I'll need new swim suits but no one else can really buy those for me. Any other ideas on things you couldn't live without. Well, could live without, but not as happily.

1 comment:

ShesAlwaysWrite said...

Sorry this is so belated - meant to comment on this post and it slipped my mind. (One of the downfalls of Google Reader - can't comment from it!)

I went through the whole HR monitor debate earlier this year. Flatman was a huge help - he really knows his gadgets!

I ended up with a Polar M32 and I LOVE it. Just enough bells and whistles I get some good geeky info, not so many that I feel like I wasted money or can't figure it out. It's priced slightly above the entry level ones, but well below the super fancy ones that spit out charts to your PC.

Retail it lists for about $110, I got mine on eBay (brand new in box) for about $85.

One thing I learned (it was a tough lesson that I didn't want to hear) is that the wrist-only ones are garbage - a chest strap one is a must. I flat out didn't want a chest strap because of the bra factor (Polar sells a sports bra that you can thread the strap through, which is great IF your girls aren't so big the bras actually fit) but it hasn't been that bad. I hardly notice it now and am very glad I got this kind because it gives continuous feedback. Also something I was glad to learn - the kind of chest strap mine came with only requires water as a conductor. Most monitor contacts require special HR conductor goo, something I really didn't want to deal with.